February 10, 2023
Lasco Financial Services Limited (LASF), for the nine months ended December 31, 2022 recorded income of $1.66 billion; this represented a 5% decrease when compared to $1.75 billion posted in 2021, while trading income for the quarter amounted to $537.76 million (2021: $668.38 million). Other income increased to $97.27 million versus $88.36 million in 2021. This resulted in overall income of $1.76 billion, a decline of 4% compared to $1.84 billion for the corresponding period in 2021.
Operating expenses amounted to $1.38 billion, 5% more than the $1.32 billion booked the year prior. Of this, selling and promotional expenses fell 6% to close at $463.39 million relative to the $490.48 million reported in the prior period, “increased in line with additional market activity for the period which were intended to develop the market for our newest service, LASCO Gold prepaid cards which was extended to the public in July 2022,” as per LASF. Administrative expenses experienced a growth of 11% to $919.57 million compared to the $826.09 million in 2021.
As a result, profit from operations fell 28% to total $376.64 million, relative to the $521.57 million recorded last year. Profit from operations for the quarter fell by 62% to close at $88.85 million (2021: $233.48 million).
Finance costs decreased to $83.47 million (2021: $123.41 million), resulting in a profit before tax of $293.17 million, relative to the $398.16 million booked for 2021. For the quarter, pre-tax profit closed at $60.10 million (2021: $203.42 million).
Net profits attributable to shareholders totaled $187.36 million, a 29% decrease from $263.64 million posted for the same period last year, followed by taxes for the period of $105.81 million (2021: $134.52 million). Net profit for the quarter amounted to $30.61 million relative to $130.05 million booked in 2021.
Earnings per share for Lasco Financial Services Limited (LASF) amounted to $0.146 (2021: $0.206). EPS for the quarter totaled $0.024 (2021: $0.102), while the twelve-month trailing earnings per share amounted to $0.18. The number of shares used in our calculations amounted to 1,280,227,726 units. LASF closed the trading period on February 9, 2022 at $2.64 with a corresponding P/E ratio of 14.68 times.
Balance Sheet Highlights:
As at December 31, 2022, the company’s assets totaled $4.65 billion (2021: $4.52 billion), $131.19 million or 3% more than its value a year ago. This increase was largely due to ‘Receivables’ which rose from $1.65 billion in 2021 to $1.88 billion in 2022.
Equity attributable to stockholders of the company amounted to $2.09 billion relative to $1.92 billion in 2021. This translates to a book value per share of $1.63 (2021: $1.50).
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